In its weekly FluWatch report, the Public Health Agency of Canada says there were 11,277 laboratory-confirmed cases of flu across the country as of December 30 - about 70 per cent attributed to H3N2 - with more than 1,000 influenza-related hospitalizations and 34 deaths.

The child died at Dayton Children's Hospital on Saturday, January 6. "It's not possible to say precisely when this flu season will peak or end or how severe it will be".

Healthy lifestyle habits can also protect you from seasonal illness.

He added that both children and pregnant women are among those at higher risk due to the flu, as are people over the age of 63.

ODH also is reporting 1,750 new confirmed flu-associated hospitalizations in OH during the first week of January, a significant increase over 925 reported during the last week of December.

Flu season begins in October, and typically peaks between December and February. That means washing hands, covering mouths and staying home from school or work as to not expose others, Johnson said.

The flu is landing more people in the ER than usual.

Flu symptoms can come on suddenly with a fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, headache and fatigue, though not everyone with the flu runs a fever, Rohler noted.

"Even if it's not 100 percent effective, it still reduces the number of hospitalizations and can make the illness more mild if you do get the flu", said Jennifer Layden with the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Jill Baber, influenza surveillance coordinator with the Division of Disease Control with the state, said eight cases have resulted in death, and two of those were in the state's northeast quadrant. "Every spring, we try to guess what strains are going to be in the environment, so six months before anybody really is getting ready for flu, we're guessing from the Southern Hemisphere what's going to happen in the Northern Hemisphere", he said.

It can take up to two weeks to build full immunity to influenza following a vaccination, so people should get shots immediately, the department said.

While the flu shot isn't always effective, doctors say if you catch the flu and have had the shot the symptoms may be less severe. Wischmeier says the good news is that the incidence of flu has since slowed down, locally.

Schneider said the rise in positive flu cases could be attributed to better reporting on the physicians' part. The flu can lead to complications like pneumonia, dehydration and worsening of chronic medical conditions. "People are bad about coughing into their hands and then they don't wash their hands, and then, of course, we transmit the flu".

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